she's my baby too!
by Muraille
Summary: katara leaves zuko without a trace and sets out to a new life where she will raise a child alone.
1. Chapter 1

She's my baby too!

Flashback

" _zuko please keep going…..it feels so good don't stoooooooop!" she screamed. " your so tight katara ….. I won't stop …..i think im gonna come…" he started before he exploded inside her . he rolled off her onto his side and held her tight. They sat like that for a while until katara broke the silence. " i-I …I love you my zuzu" she admitted . _

" _I love you you too tara" he replied. Once again the silence over took them until zuko broke it again. " tara I love you and since it's the end of the war and mai is in love with roh-joan , will you marry me and…" he started . katara's face lit up . " and be my fire lady." He finally said . katara loved zuko more than she ever loved anyone but he face fell as subtlety as possible . she didn't respond nt wanting to upset zuko. Zuko understood straight away and said " I can see this is a shocking announcement so I'll let you answer me tomorrow."_

" _thanks zu , I do love you but it's just the fire lady responsibility . but not to worry I'll tell you tomorrow night zu." She managed the get out before falling asleep by zuko's side ._

" _night tara" zuko replied before following katara into sleep._

_4 hours later _

_Katara was awake . zuko's request was harder to think about than she thought . that night ,while zuko sleep safe and sound , she had been throwing up in the bath room . she had started panicking until it clicked her ! I'm pregnant! She thought. This was going to be tough. She already had to much stress thinking about how to answer zuko and her future duties as fire lady . this was a really bad time to be pregnant . how will zuko react , what will he say ? she thought . zuko was very busy 23 year old . he had : money , tax , new houses , trades and lots of other extreme stuff to deal with . being the new fire lord was not easy for zuko since he had no " good" role model . iroh , zuko's uncle was in ba sing se and only visited rarely . zuko had a lot of problems at his sleeve he did not need another one . katara felt guilty and could imagine all the scandal and time it would take for the whole world to realise and accept the situation . she had made her mind up she was not going to bother zuko and put more problems in his mind ._

_She wouldn't be strong enough to face him . she couldn't tell him how she felt . there was only one solution ….. she had to run away ._

_She slowly and quiet got out of bed making sure not wake zuko . she found her clothes , her sleeping bag and supplies in the basket . she quickly got changed , grabbed her stuff and flew out thee window. Appa was outside eating grass , he was her ticket out of the fire nation . Aang gave appa to her as a gift for her recent birthday for he had a new bison . she landed softly on the grass and walked towards Appa. She gently stroke him and threw herself and her stuff on board. " yip – yip." Said quietly while flicking the reigns. Appy slowly took off the ground and headed for the water tribe . while appa kept moving she took one last look at the palace . then she thought of zuko , the title and duty she would've had if she became fire lady . she thought about her future life and the baby she was carrying in her stomac. That baby could have had a happy , rich life , she thought before shaking the thought away . she blew an invisible kiss at zuko's bedroom door before looking back at the road ahead of her._

" _I love you zuko , I always will but I can't stay . you will always hold a place in my heart but it has to be this way . I'm not running because I don't love you , I'm not running because your not good enough . I'm doing this to protect our family . I'm doing this for you , for me and for our baby." She whispered to herself before falling asleep on the saddle . _

_It was a brand new day but the sun was a little late . zuko moan as he started to open his eyes . he smiled as he touched the spot on the bed that was meant to be covered by katara. _

_But it was empty._

_He quickly sat up on the bed and started to panick , but stopped when his hand felt a peace of paper. He opened it assuming it his sister azula who was playing a prank on him . azula ofcourse was on ozai's side at first but she soon found out who she was and who she was meant to be and joined zuko helping him rebuild from the previous war. She some times put letters on his bed saying things like " I will kill you in your sleep" to remind zuko of the old days . zuko was about the rip the paper when he saw the word " azula" but stopped when he saw the word katara. On the cover of the letter there was written " not from zula but tara" . this was written in katara's handwriting which proved it wasn't from anyone but katara . inside there was written ….: I love you zuko , I always will but I can't stay . you will always hold a place in my heart but it has to be this way . I'm not running because I don't love you , I'm not running because your not good enough . I'm doing this to protect our family . I'm doing this for you , for me and for our baby._

_Tears started to form in zuko's eyes . thoughts started to roll aroud in his head. He realised that maybe he having sex with her and getting her pregnant made her scared . and she couldn't face him . more tears formed until they dropped from his eyes._

" _I'm sorry katara , you ran away because of me . but I'll come for you , some day I'll find you again and If you ask why im here ill say … I did this for you , for me and our baby " he screamed before grabbing the letter , holding it tight in his chest and sobbing into the pillow ._

_A while later zuko had stopped crying and whispered to himself_

" _you left for to protect our family …" _

"_You left for you , for me and for our baby…."_

_End of flashback_

It's now six years since the end of war and 28 year old katara is in the water tribe with her daughter . when she left zuko she went back to the water tribe and explained everything to her farther , sokka , suki and kanna . they understood but adviced her to give zuko a chance . she took no notice and tried her best to forget him . sooner than she expected she was in labor and gave birth to a beautiful girl that she named zuliaka . she was sweet little girl with black hair, violet eyes and pale skin. She was now 6 and old enough to bend . unfortunately she was a fire bender which meant that was hard for katara to keep her under control. Even though katara has been trying to forget zuko it was hard because she could see him right through zuliaka. She (much like her farther zuko) had a great taste in food and music. Although zuliaka loks like zuko she has katara's calm relaxed personality which helps her deal and adjust to situations. Since zuliaka is good at dealing with hard situations she has told her about her farther . zuliaka does not show her pain but instead washes them away by playing her flute .

Zuliaka is an optimistic girl and sometimes she hopes her farther would come for her .

She held her flute tightly in her chest and did the same with music book. " I love you so much daddy and I know your coming because you'll do it you , for me and for mum" she said to herself before going back in the house to help her mum.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: tears

"Why me? Oh Yue why me?!" katara screamed to herself. Two days ago katara received a letter from the fire nation saying fire lord Zuko is sick. He has a serious chest infection and since katara is master water bender and healer she has been summand to the fire nation palace. Her daughter zulieka has realised her mother was upset but katara refused to tell why. Katara knew zulieka loved her farther more than anything , katara knew her daughter always wished her farther would come so katara didn't make her think otherwise. After katara left the fire nation, Zuko send her an apology letter which also contained a promise which was that he would come back for both of them when he was ready. Zulieka had her mother read the letter to her so she knew about the promise. Katara told her young daughter that she farther is an honest man and would always do what he promised.

But this time was different.

Her beloved father's promise was threatened by his illness. Katara always let her daughter trust in her own faith. She couldn't tell now, she couldn't tell her that his promise was lost just because of his health. She had to keep it to herself. But she had to tell eventually because she had to go in the few days. Katara was planning on sending her daughter to Kioshi Island where she could stay with her brother, suki and her cuisines until she returned from healing Zuko.

Telling her daughter wasn't the only thing troubling katara. The thing that was tearing her apart was that the man she loved and still love was at risk. He could die, he might not make it. She and Zuko promised that they would grow old together with plenty of kids but now that promise was slowly drifting away. She was broken in two. She slowly slid the letter back in her pocket before going back to her cooking. She knew she had to be strong for her, zulieka and Zuko.

" mom! Mom! Are you ok where are you?!" zulieka shouted in panick as she entered the house. " in the kitchen" katara replied trying not to give away that she had been crying. " mom! Next time tell me where you're gonna be I thought I lost you , I thought someone took you away from me !" zulieka said in tears as she hugged her mother. katara suddenly felt guilt as she hu her daughter . she felt untruthful towards her daughter . " she has to know…" katara whispered to herself . " what did you say mom?" zulieka asked . " zulie come and sit with me on the coach mommy owes you an explanation" katara said feeling guilty.

" yeah , you do owe me an explanation ( pause) what's been eating you mommy?!" zulieka replied with big ocean , worried eyes.

Katara relaxed in her seat as she heard her daughter's sweet voice . she felt pain and anxiousness and had been beating herself to sleep . " …..daddy…" was the only word katara could get out.

She felt zulieka stiffen and her eyes were full of water…


End file.
